Flexible flat resistors are increasingly used in different fields of application. Typically, these resistors, which are flexible conductive elements, are used as heating means or as sensors.
Generally, flexible flat resistors comprise two layers of insulating material in which a metal track is incorporated. The resistive metal track or foil is typically connected to an electrical power source. The overall thickness of flexible flat resistors is very limited, generally of between a few tens and a few hundreds of microns. For this reason these resistors are called “flat”, having one dimension much smaller with respect to the other two. Furthermore, in resting conditions, in particular when they are not subject to external forces, these resistors have a substantially flat shape.
In some applications, it would be interesting to coat an item with a flexible flat resistor. However, especially when the item to be coated has a relatively complex geometry, the coating of such an item with a flexible flat resistor has disadvantages. For example, an item with relatively small radii of curvature cannot be optimally coated with a flexible flat resistor. In particular, when the resistor wraps the item, numerous creases or ripples are formed. Furthermore, during the coating operation the metal track is subject to breakage. Furthermore, it would be advantageous to have flexible flat resistors which are more performing with respect to the state of the art.
Therefore, the need to overcome such drawbacks is felt.